


A Promise to Keep

by flipflop_diva



Series: The Promise [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Gen, Light Angst, Maria Hill is a Good Bro, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2015-03-03
Packaged: 2018-03-16 03:42:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3473162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maria Hill doesn't make promises easily. But once she does, she'll do whatever she can to keep them. A story in 3 parts.</p>
<p>In this part, Maria gets an unexpected visitor. Set about four months after Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Part 2 of 3</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Promise to Keep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [APgeeksout](https://archiveofourown.org/users/APgeeksout/gifts).



It was a hot, sticky August night, the kind of night where nothing you did could keep you cool. The sidewalk practically burned the soles off shoes as people walked, and strands of sticky hair stuck to faces and necks that gleamed red from perspiration.

Maria Hill brushed a few tangled locks away from her face, but otherwise, the uncomfortableness of the night did nothing to phase her. Her steps were as sure and confident as ever, even as she glanced around surreptitiously, making sure no one was following her.

No one was. 

It had been four months since SHIELD had fallen, four months since she had escaped into Stark Industries, but her old way of life was never far from her mind, even if her new life offered things the old one hadn’t. Like real friendships.

Working side by side for hours a day, she and Pepper had formed a friendship unlike any Maria had ever had before. They spent time together outside of work and shared details of their lives, they went out for drinks and to try new restaurants, and they spent long nights talking and arguing and debating the merits that came with the ordeal of privatizing global security. Pepper was the one person Maria wasn’t afraid to be open with, and Pepper returned the favor wholeheartedly.

But still, Maria would be lying if she said she didn’t miss the chaotic and dangerous world of SHIELD, if she didn’t miss the people she had grown to love and trust because their very survival depended on it.

Tonight, even though everything appeared all right at a glance, was one of those nights. Something just felt off. 

Maria turned off the street she was walking down and entered a non-descript white building. She climbed the stairs to her fifth-floor apartment, still searching around her as she did, but again, nothing was out of place, nothing set off any real warning bells. Still, the feeling that something was wrong tickled the back of her mind.

She let herself into her apartment, quietly, carefully. The one lamp she had left on was still on, casting a glow over everything. From what she could see, everything looked fine, undisturbed. But the skin at the back of her neck prickled even more intensely, and Maria’s hand automatically went to the gun hidden under her waistband, another habit learned and not abandoned from her old way of life.

Gripping the weapon tightly, Maria headed into the bedroom, senses on full alert. She stopped with an audible gasp two steps into the room.

“Hi,” said a small voice. 

Natasha was sitting on Maria’s bed, cross-legged in the center, dripping blood from a deep gash on her arm down on to the comforter. Her hair was longer than when Maria had last seen her, mussed and hanging over most of her face, but not enough that Maria couldn’t see the mottled bruises and the scrapes that covered her skin. She was dressed in black jeans and a black tank top, but they were both ripped and dirty, and Maria could see a patch of blood in the middle of her stomach. She was smiling at Maria, but the gesture stopped at her mouth. Her eyes reflected pain and a slight bit of fear.

“You’re bleeding on my bed,” Maria said quietly. She walked toward Natasha to take a better look at her.

“Sorry,” Natasha said, but she didn’t look sorry. She just watched Maria move toward her.

“There’s a hospital down the street from here, you know.”

“I know.”

“But you prefer my surgical skills?”

“I missed you.”

“Right.” Maria took another couple steps toward Natasha, then held out her hand, waiting until Natasha took it with her uninjured arm. She held on to her as Natasha scooted toward the edge of the bed, wincing a little as she went, before getting to her feet in a graceful motion. But two steps toward the bathroom and she slumped slightly. Maria slipped an arm around her waist to steady her, noting she was favoring her right leg.

“You want to tell me who did this to you?” Maria asked softly as she helped Natasha into the bathroom, sitting her down on the edge of the bathtub.

Natasha shrugged. “I don’t know who they were. I’ve lost track.” She didn’t elaborate.

Maria turned to pull the first-aid kit she always kept stocked out from under the sink, thinking more about what Natasha hadn’t said than what she had. 

“A lot of people want payback now that they know who you are?” Maria said.

Natasha smirked slightly. “Something like that.”

Maria nodded, already getting to work, soaking a plain rag with antiseptic. “This is going to hurt,” she said.

Natasha shrugged and held out her arm. Maria pressed the rag to the gash that she could see now extended from below Natasha’s elbow to the middle of her upper arm.

“So why are you really here, Nat? You are the girl who once tried to stitch up your own gunshot wound, so I know you don’t need me for this.” 

Natasha didn’t answer for awhile. In fact, so many seconds ticked by, Maria thought she wasn’t going to. But, finally, she spoke.

“Because I lied.”

Maria waited. Natasha lied about many things, maybe almost everything. It was who she was, what had helped her survive.

“The night before SHIELD fell, I told you I didn’t need anyone.” Natasha sucked in a breath. “I think I was wrong.”

Maria looked up from the wound she was tending, met Natasha’s eyes. For a moment, they were wide open, vulnerable, afraid. She looked as lost as she had that night on the bridge.

Maria had a sudden urge to hug her, to pull her close and never let her go. Instead she just nodded and went back to her work.

“Okay,” she said. “I can help you with that.”


End file.
